


Handprints

by thequeenmeera



Series: And So We Have Each Other [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 02:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18298094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequeenmeera/pseuds/thequeenmeera
Summary: Arya and Gendry work on a little project for the children's hospital





	Handprints

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DefinitelyNotNina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DefinitelyNotNina/gifts).



Arya could feel the hum of the plane’s engine beneath her feet. The planes that went to and from Skagos were small and cramped but Arya always got a window seat and the views were spectacular. She looked down at the water that, due to the season, contained icebergs with only their tips visible bobbing on the waves and prayed to whatever gods there might be that Rickon would stay safe that winter. He’d done it before and out of all the family Rickon was the best equipped to handle whatever a Northern winter could throw at him. He claimed to have spent a week huddled in the cleared-out insides of a Skagosi unicorn two years before though no one could confirm that the story was even remotely true. Osha had assured their mother that Rickon had in fact spent most of his time huddled inside a friend’s house playing video games and that she’d gone to check on him every few days.

Her visit had been an interesting affair. Any time spent with the youngest Stark was guaranteed to be. Rickon had taken her out into the woods near his cabin and showed her the ropes of his new outfitting business. He was doing well for himself especially considering how young he was. Rickon had spent as much free time as possible in the backwoods and on Skagos as a child and in his teen years through clubs and camps and by begging their uncle Benjen or their great uncle Brynden to take him out to the woods with them. When Bran had fallen from that ruined tower their parents had put a lot more focus on him and after that Rickon was able to get away with anything short of murder since his caretaking was mostly left up to their regular babysitter Osha. Arya was proud of how her baby brother had turned out and she knew their parents were too though they had a harder time expressing it. Their mother had nearly died of horror when on his graduation night Rickon had explained his plan to the family.

When Arya got back to Riverrun Gendry was waiting for her outside her apartment, leaning against his truck and dressed in his rattiest clothes and ready to work. He grumbled about her expecting him to jump into a project with her right as she got back from her visit _but_ as she reminded him everything had to be ready by Monday morning so they’d best start right away. “Anyway, this’ll count as your good deed for the day” she told him.

“Not the full year?” he teased.

They had cans of brightly-colored paints. Yellow, green, purple, blue, orange, pink, red. Arya thought most of them were garish but they were better than white. It was bad enough being stuck in a hospital, the sterile whites and muted grays only made it worse. Arya had spent enough time talking to the long-term patients to know that. She felt exhausted herself at how drained of color the hospital was.

Gendry helped her move the couch, the cushy reading chair, the coffee table, put the rugs out of the way and unroll the sheets of plastic to protect the floor. They covered her furniture as well for good measure. When Arya returned from changing into her own work clothes Gendry had moved the cabinets into place and was opening the can of primer.

They chatted while they painted. “I might take up glass-blowing next,” he told her.

“Really?” Arya was incredulous, “I thought you liked welding.”

He shrugged a little and dipped his brush back in the bright orange paint. “I get by alright but sometimes I think I’d rather do something more specialized. Unique. It’s not easy work and there’s not as much of it but I could make more money. Or I could go back to school and become an engineer.”

“What kind of engineer?”

“Civil I think. I’m used to working with machines but if I was a civil engineer I might be able to make life better for people.”

Arya stepped back from the box she’d just finished painting purple, “Well you could do any of those things. Or all of them; you’ve got plenty of time.”

There was only one piece left, a cabinet. “I’ve got an idea for this one,” Arya said before Gendry should ask about the color.

It was messy, painting with their hands, and their hands were probably too big for the intended effect but Arya had missed the feeling of paint on her fingers since she’d left primary school and Gendry liked making handprint after handprint on the big white cabinet. “It’s one of those simple joys in life and I’m a pretty simple guy,” he said in reply to her teasing.

The light filtered in through the apartment windows just right and made his dark blue eyes seem brighter but deeper. Gendry wasn’t usually a bright and happy person but he was smiling today. “Do you want to get dinner tonight?” she blurted.

“Sure,” he said with a shrug.

“I mean like a date kind of dinner.”

Gendry raised an eyebrow, “I said yes didn’t I?”

Arya had stopped pressing her small, red handprints into the cabinet. She’d asked him out. She’d actually asked him out and he’d said yes. The wave of impulse built and crested and Arya was reaching up with her paint-covered hands to tug on his shirt collar. Gendry bent his face towards hers and met her halfway, cupping her face with one hand and holding her steady with the other. “Getting a little excited aren’t you?” he asked when he’d stood up straight again. Arya tried to shove him but he had his feet planted firmly on the floor and wouldn’t budge. Instead he laughed and got back to painting. His big, blue handprint dried on her cheek.


End file.
